Didn't anyone ever tell you, Ferrets are in Style
by gummibearitron
Summary: First love the tender feelings of the heart that makes us nervous, happy and excited all at the same time. It is an emotion that has been expressed through ages through different poems, messages, flowers and gifts. Draco/Harry slash.
1. Ferretboy

1The moment I set eyes on the boy who stood before me, I suddenly knew just what was going to happen. I had not realized just how much I liked this boy... his messy hair, his glasses perched upon his nose, making those emerald green eyes look a just brilliant, although I'd prefer to see them eye-to-eye, the glasses not in the way whatsoever. I couldn't take my eyes off of him; I couldn't help but feel so attracted to this boy. I cursed him for taking my interest. I felt like a nutter; a stupid prat idiot as a struggled with moving my legs, closing the space between us. I took his face in my hands, and he stood there frozen solid, staring at me with the most alarming expression etched perfectly across his pale face.

He didn't move until I leaned my face down, pressing my lips softly to his. The messy-haired boy reacted as soon as I captured his lips with my own and he slipped his hands around my body, placing one on the lower half of my back and the other on the back of my neck. Our lips followed each other; I lead him through it, tracing his lower lip with the tip of my tongue. I shifted my position, sliding my hands to his back, feeling him shiver as I slipped my tongue into his mouth.

– –

I sat with my head down on my arms, staring blankly at the chalkboard that sat at the front of the classroom. It was blank and a very silvery ghost stood floating in front of the board, bursting into speech about some goblin revolution thing. I hadn't been paying much attention to Professor Binns; this class always made me feel drowsy. My eyes turned to look at the next thing that took my interest. The jet black messy haired boy sat in the desk in front of mine next to Weasley, and Granger was sitting next to Lavender Brown, which I did not understand since she despised the girl from the previous year when she was dating Weasel.

It hadn't taken me long that I had absolutely been in love with Potter. I think it happened some time in fourth year when he nearly got eaten by that Horntailed Dragon. I just felt so scared for him when he was nearly killed by that thing... I didn't know why, but I suddenly started to feel attracted towards him. I had known since third year that I was more attracted to guys than I was towards girls, but I never expected to find my arch enemy rather arousing. I of course had told no one this and pretended to be mildly interested in the female type, when my heart instead longed for that messy-haired emerald green eyed boy. I let out a sigh, wanting nothing more than to reach out and touch him, to run my fingers through his hair, making it even messier.

When the bell rang, I stood up and shoved all of my belongings into my bag and slung the bag over my shoulder. I started to walk around the desk, and as I was about to head up the aisle to the classroom door, somebody bumped into me, and I whipped around so fast, started. Those amazing green eyes were staring at me, looking at me with a hint of annoyance in them. "What where you're going Potter." I sneered, then turned on my heel and exited the classroom without another word. Yeah, I still acted like a prick towards him, but that was only because I needed to keep a low profile with this whole, "liking Harry Potter" deal.

I walked down the corridors towards my next class; Charms. This class I had with the Ravenclaws. Pansy and Blaise were in the class waiting for me. Parkinson sat in the seat next to mine and Blaise slid into a seat in front of ours. I dropped my book-bag on the floor with a dull thud, and turned to face the front of the class with an annoyed sigh. How I longed to look back into those dazzling green eyes; they made me want to melt each time I stared into them... corny... I know. But so true.

Flitwick wasn't being exactly nice with the homework assignment. We had to write a fifteen inch essay on Silencing Charms, this was due for tomorrow. He gave us class time to work on our essay for a bit, and I gave the essay my full attention, ignoring the groans of annoyance coming from beside me; Pansy never was good at Charms. The scratching of quills on parchment was all that could be heard throughout the room, along with Pansy's short constant groans. We had a week before the school year was over, and I had a nice long boring summer ahead of me. For some reason, I was not looking forwards to going home.

The bell eventually rang, signaling that it was the end of the day, and I picked up my books and parchment and my quill and put it all back into my bag. Pansy and Blaise did the same thing and they followed me out of the classroom. "Drakie, please could you help me with my Charms essay? I don't get any of it, and you're really good." Draco sigh, not really wanting to help her at all. "Pans, we've got a week left of school; N.E. are next week. How do you expect to be ready for them if I do all of your work for you?"

Pansy also sighed, a slight pout expression on her face. "Well... I don't know. Could you tutor me?" Blaise looked sideways at his friends, cocking an eyebrow. "I could tutor you Pans. I'm better at Charms than Draco." I shot him a dirty look and he grinned at me. We walked to the Great Hall, Pansy and Blaise were lost in conversation, whilst I was keeping my eyes down, screaming at them to not look over at the Gryffindor table. Against my will, I did. And there he sat, looking like an angel. How I wanted this boy so badly... but Harry Potter wasn't homosexual. No... he couldn't have been. He was currently in a relationship with Ginny Weasley, which made me wonder what he saw in her?

I ate in silence, being more bored than ever. Today was the last Friday of the year, so the sixth and seventh years were hosting a end-of-the-year-party in the Room of Requirement. I wasn't really up for going, but I knew that Pansy and Blaise would drag me along with them anyways. Maybe Potter would be there...


	2. Scarhead

1"You don't have to do this." I said, staring at the platinum blonde-haired boy who stood just steps away from me. He stared right back, his silver eyes flashing. I couldn't help but feel my stomach twitch at the sight of his face; I got so nervous around him.

"I have to." He whispered and looked away. I noticed that his eyes looked all glassy. I took the few steps that held the distance between us. He still didn't look up, although I knew he knew that I had moved closer to him. I was only inches away from him; his personal bubble was completely invaded right now.

I placed my hand under his chin and lifted his face up so that he was level with my eyes. We were about the same-ish height, him being a tad bit taller than I. I stared into his eyes… was he about to cry? I didn't know what I was doing… I had hated this boy for so long… and now I wanted to comfort him and make all of his fears go away…

I broke up with Cho Chang. I, Harry Potter, broke up with the most annoying girl in Ravenclaw. All the girl could do was cry and obsess over Cedric Diggory, and she got completely jealous of Hermione because she was my friend. Why was it girls always got so jealous of their boy's friends that were girls? It's not like they were dating them! They were friends... nothing more nothing less, and if Cho couldn't accept that, then he couldn't accept her... besides, all she did besides complain about Hermione was cry her damned eyes out over Diggory. He died almost a year ago... was she still crying over that? Really... they went to the Yule Ball... maybe they dated for a bit, but it wasn't like they were engaged and having eighty Chodric's and Cedo's. I grunted as I plopped down for dinner in the Great Hall, my eyes scanned the Slytherin table and I caught Malfoy staring at me. I glared at him, and transferred my eyes to Hermione's face. She was sitting across from me.

"How'd she take it?" The curly-haired girl asked, and I shrugged my shoulders, unsure of how to begin. Ron hadn't looked up from his plate once when he had food piled on it. He was currently shoving his face with mashed potatoes and steak and kidney pie.

"Fine I s'pose. She can go and cry and bow to her Diggory shrine in her room without a guilty thought of me in her head any longer." I retorted venomously as my back stiffened. I felt a pair of eyes on the back of my head and I was sure that the certain raven-haired lady was staring at me with searching eyes at this very moment, but I didn't dare turn around to check. As if on cue, Hermione bent her head towards me and whispered, "Cho's looking at you. It looks like she was crying again." I hunched my shoulders apprehensively and picked up my fork and stabbed it angrily into my pork chops. Hermione sighed and leaned back and scooped some peas into her mouth.  
"So, are we going to that party tonight?" Ron asked through a mouthful of steak and kidney pie. Hermione looked utterly disgusted by him and shook her head. "Are you joking Ronald? We're prefects! There shouldn't be a party at all!" Ron swallowed his food before speaking the next time. "This is silly! It's the end of the year! You'd be a complete nutter not to go."

Hermione retorted with something, but I was caught off guard by the sight of Ginny Weasley, who was scooting over to sit beside me. "Hey Harry. Are you going to that party tonight?" I looked at her with an annoyed expression on my face. I was still pissed off because of Cho. "You can't go Gin. You're a fourth year."

"I can if you help me get in. I promised Jacob Johnson that I would meet him there tonight..." Johnson... he was a Ravenclaw fifth year. I sighed but nodded my head. "Fine. But you owe me." Ginny smiled and said her thanks before scooting back over to her other friends and I turned back to Hermione and Ron, who had stopped bickering. "Looks like we're not going."

Ron looked completely bewildered, but he didn't say anything. Hermione had obviously won this fight. "I have to... but only for five minutes... to help... a friend inside." I knew that if I mentioned Ginny's name then she'd be hearing an earful later. Ron turned his gaze and glared at Hermione who didn't reply to anything I said. He looked shocked and pissed off all in one. "Nothing?"

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, looking up from her dinner at the pissed off tone in Ron's voice.

"Nothing?! When I ask to go, it's a big fat no! But when Harry-"

"He said he's going to help a friend for a few minutes Ronald! Then he'll come out and meet us back in the common room."

I sighed as they got back into fighting again, my eyes scanned over the Slytherin table, and there was no trace of the Ferret anywhere. Rat-face better had not been there tonight...

As I walked alongside Ginny down the corridor that lead to the Room of Requirement, I couldn't help but feel rather annoyed... still. This stupid girl would not leave my thoughts, and the very sight of her boiled my blood. Cho had tried to talk to me after dinner, but I pushed passed her and took Ginny's hand in my own just to piss her off. Ginny was rather bewildered by this and her cheeks flushed immensely and I had to apologize about ten different times. But all the same, it left Ginny Weasley embarrassed and me pissed off again. Everything seemed to piss me off at the moment.

As we walked down the next corridor, there was suddenly a large door appearing on the wall nearest to us and Ginny clicked her tongue excitedly. I opened the door and lead her inside, hearing music from the Weird Sisters already playing. There were tons of people in here, probably about forty to forty-five. There were pillows laid out for each different corner in the room and in the middle was a dance floor with a very large sound-system that looked strangely like a muggle stereo, and it was odd. Were they allowing muggle items to work in the castle now?

Lights of different varieties of colours danced all around the room, a blue light hit my face and I winced and shot a hand up into the air to block my eyes. I looked around for Ginny, but it appeared that she had already disappeared somewhere... so much for a proper thanks. I was about to turn on my heel and leave, but that's when somebody called my name and I spun around and saw Dean and Seamus sitting in one of the corners nearest to me. They beckoned me over and I obeyed, and from that moment on, I wish I hadn't for that night took a very uncomfortable turn.

They asked me to take a seat and play the game with them, which struck me as confused because I had no idea what they were doing. There was a plastic bottle in the middle of the circle that was formed amongst the pillows, each person that sat in the circle was either in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and even some Slytherins sat playing whatever game it was that they were playing. I raised my eyebrow in curiosity and Dean patted the pillow next to him.

"Come on Harry! Play with us!" He said and a few girls started to whisper to each other excitedly.

"Play what exactly?" I found myself asking, not really wanting to play, but it seemed too interesting to pass up.

"It's called, 'Spin the Bottle'. My cousin told me about it, you know how she's a muggle right?" Dean said. Yes I knew what he meant by that. Dean's parents were muggles too, so it made perfect sense. "What you do is, you spin the bottle like so," He said and Seamus leaned forwards, grasping the plastic bottle in his hand and he spun it. We all watched it spin in circles until it slowed and landed on a Ravenclaw girl with blonde hair who sat across the circle from him. "And now, Seamus has to kiss her." Seamus grinned as he crawled forwards, the blonde met him half way and they shared a kiss. I blinked stupidly. A kissing game? I wasn't exactly really up for something like this right now... not after me and Cho...

Glancing up I saw the raven-haired girl sitting beside the blonde girl that had been kissed by Seamus. This made me feel uneasy and I wanted to leave.

"Come on Harry, play with us." Seamus urged.

"Oh I don't know..." I mumbled. "I told Hermione and Ron I'd be coming right back after I helped a friend in..."

"You're not passing this up, mate." Dean said and he grabbed my sleeve and pulled me down onto the cushion beside him. "Besides, look at all the attractive girls we got to play." He whispered in my ear, and he was quite right about that. But there wasn't just girls playing. There were many boys too. I scanned the circle, searching for any familiar faces, and there were quite a few. Hannah Abbott, Lavender Brown, the Patil twins, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Colin Creevey... The list went on.

"Alright." I agreed. "I'll play... But only for a few minutes."

"Excellent. Then you can have a go now." Seamus clapped his hands together and gestured to the bottle.

I swallowed and leaned forwards to grab the bottle between my fingers. I felt everyone's eyes on me as I twisted the bottle and leaned back, fully aware that Cho was staring at me instead of the spinning bottle... which began to slow.

My heart started to race faster and faster as the bottle spun slower and slower. My eyes were glued to it as the mouth of the bottle continued to spin, pointing at everyone as it passed them.

Finally it stopped and I was a bit afraid to look up to see who it had landed on.  
This is where things took a very uncomfortable turn. So I warn you, brace yourself.

The entire circle seemed to hold the same reaction; shock. Then some of the people started to laugh. It was Cho, I knew it.

I lifted my eyes from the bottle and looked up into the eyes of the person that the bottle was directed towards. I expected to see the dark brown eyes of the raven-haired girl, but unless she was wearing contacts and had platinum blonde hair, then this was definitely not Cho Chang. I felt a tad relieved, but then the other part of me wanted to kiss her instead.

I was staring at the face of Draco Malfoy. I hadn't even seen him sitting in the circle. I was too focused on my ex-girlfriend to notice the slimy git. I looked at Seamus, feeling nauseated and my heart was pounding in my ears. "D-do... boys count too?"

Dean laughed.

"Everyone counts, mate. But I dunno, in your case it might just be an acception." Seamus replied and Malfoy lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah, Potter's just too chicken to kiss his Slytherin buddy. Mostly because I happen to be a boy and he's too straight for me." Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle laughed along with a bunch of other people.

I felt like connecting my fist with Malfoy's nose. Just my luck right? I play some kissing game and the first person I have to kiss is a boy... and that boy is my sworn enemy. I low growl hissed in my throat and Malfoy smirked. He knew I always gave in to this kind of thing, when he was taunting my weakness I would always want to show to him and prove that I could do whatever it was he was taunting just as well as he could, if not, better. I clenched my teeth and glared at the boy, who gladly returned the foul stare. I didn't know how long we sat there, glaring at each other, but somebody had said, "Either do it already, or be labeled chicken and let somebody else have a go."

I didn't want to be labeled chicken, or show weakness to Malfoy.

But I didn't want to kiss him either.  
So this is what happened:

I convinced myself that nothing was going to change, and it was just a simple little kiss and Malfoy was only trying to make me look like a weak idiot. But I was sure that I had lost my ever-loving mind because a part of me wanted to kiss him. BUT only to prove that I was not some weakling. I didn't want to kiss him because I wanted some sort of pleasure in it. Because that was just disgusting. He was disgusting...

We locked eyes and somehow I think he knew that I was going to do it just because of the sudden change in expression he had on his face. I heaved out a sigh and I was sure that everyone sitting there knew what was about to happen.

No one said anything as I started to crawl over to Malfoy.

He looked stunned; like he had just been winded and I was glad that for once he had nothing to say. I felt just the same as he looked and I could hardly believe that I had given into peer pressure this easily.

As I got closer, my heart started to race faster and butterflies appeared in my stomach. Or it was the remainders of my dinner... who knew. I swallowed as I was close enough to do what it was I had been over here to do. I hesitated and it looked like he was too. Almost as if we started to think as one, we moved towards each other in unison and before I knew it my mouth had stumbled onto his. I was sure that my dinner was about to come back up for desert.

I didn't know how long I sat there in front of him with my mouth latched onto his, but it wasn't that long... yet it felt like we had been doing that for minutes on end. I was pulling away and I swiftly moved back to my seat and kept my eyes averted from everyone's faces. Dean patted my shoulder. "You didn't have to do that Harry." He whispered to me as a few people stared at me.

"Wow, he actually did it!" A few girls whispered, looking impressed.

I didn't look at anybody as they continued to play. I don't know how long I sat there for as people shared each other's lips, but at one point I couldn't take it anymore. I pulled myself to my feet, using an excuse that I had to finish packing up a few things before leaving on the train tomorrow, and then I was fleeing from the Room of Requirement, keeping my eyes downwards as I did so.

I was completely flustered as I walked into the common room and Hermione and Ron sat on the couch, both looking very stern when I entered the room. "Where were you? You've been gone for two hours!" Two hours? Really? It had felt a lot shorter than that... Or longer. Depends on how you look at it.

"I could have gone to get him Hermione!" Ron started to argue and she rolled her eyes, both of us knew what he had meant by that. He'd probably still be at the party if he had gone to fetch me and I came back up here.

"What were you doing?" Hermione asked, ignoring Ron.

"I... er... got caught up in something." I said, not wanting to discuss with them that I had just kissed Malfoy. At least I hadn't snogged him. It was a two second thing... right? It felt like it was two seconds, but who knew how long we actually sat there. "Listen," I said, cutting across Hermione who opened her mouth to speak. "I have to go... finish unpacking." I said, using the same excuse as before. Without waiting for her to object or reply, I turned in one swift movement and I was walking up the steps to the boys' dorms.

~

I lay my head down on my pillows, the curtains to the four-poster bed were hung around me, and I watched the ceiling. I had been lying this way for who knows how long for, and it was getting rather annoying. Sleep would not engulf me and I simply refused to try and do cooperate with it anymore. Every time I closed my eyes, Malfoy's stunned face would appear in my mind and then my lips would tingle like they had just been kissed by him again. This was frustrating and it was driving me insane.

Why couldn't I get that out of my head? He was just Malfoy. It was just a kiss. And he was just a git.

I sighed and rolled over, annoyed that I would simply not drift away into dream-world. But then again I didn't really want to because I was afraid that I would dream about him. I regretted kissing ferret-boy. I should have just been called a chicken. Why didn't I think before? It was summer and surely everyone was going to forget to call me that by next year... Except for Malfoy and his cronies of course. But them I could deal with. This was infuriating and I was sure it was going to stalk me to no end.

I vowed to never play "Spin the Bottle" ever again.


	3. Malfoy Manor

The train ride home was far more boring than I expected. I had finished my Charms essay, and Pansy did too with Blaise's help. We handed it in on the following Monday, and two days after that, we were on our way home. I knew what I was going home to, and I was nervous, but I didn't think I'd be obsessing over it for at least a few more days. But for now, only one thing was really on my mind.

Potter.

He was like a drug, and I never actually expected to kiss him... or for him to kiss me. He wouldn't leave my head and I was suffering from a really bad case of paranoia to the point where even the slightest contact sent me into a fit. I could tell that Blaise and Pansy were really starting to worry; they were having silent communications behind my back, I could tell.

We were all currently sitting in a compartment on the train and I was sitting beside the window with Blaise across from me, and Pansy sitting next to me. I had a funny feeling that they were having another of their "communications" and I was sure that they had made up an entire way of speaking to each other through expressions.

"You know Draco..." Pansy started to say, a bit hesitant. "You haven't been right since you and Potter kissed last Friday." Of course if I had kissed Potter I wouldn't have told them, but Pansy and Blaise were sitting at that circle last night when that... incident happened. She scrutinized my face, which was currently turned away from her. I didn't like being observed. It made me feel awkward.

I didn't respond to her. She was getting annoying with these constant out-bursts of Potter and I was ready to slap her.

"You know, I think you need a girlfriend." Scratch that, I _was_ going to slap her.

She exhaled and I turned to look at her. Have a girlfriend? The very idea disgusted me.

"Look, Pansy, we've gone over this before. I'm flattered but-"

"No! I didn't mean me! I meant my cousin. She's transferring to Hogwarts next year and it'd be great for you both to meet each other. I think you'd be a great couple." Obviously my best mates didn't know that I preferred the wand type.

I simply nodded my head and before I knew it, Pansy's hand was pressed against my forehead. I jumped so violently that my head ended up hitting the window pane. I cursed, and Pansy acted as if nothing happened while Blaise laughed. I grasped my forehead and glared at her.

"I knew it wasn't because of Potter! You're burning up. Here, lie down!" She patted her lap and I gave her an annoyed stare. She returned my look with one of her own that had said, "Now"!

"You're such a mother!" Blaise and I said in unison. Instead of arguing with her, I obeyed for once and lay down, resting my head in her lap. Clearly this was only an excuse to get me to put my head there because I felt fine, with the exception of the fact that I didn't want to go home.

I found myself stifling a yawn, being tired from my previous few nights; I had gotten no sleep because of _Potter_. Pansy had started to absentmindedly play with my hair. I found it rather distracting and it frustrated me to no end so I snapped, "Pansy! I am going to make you eat my foot in a few seconds if you don't stop!" She huffed but obeyed none-the-less.

I found that I had drifted off to sleep and when I had woken up, my head was still in Pansy's lap and herself and Blaise were discussing something in low, careful voices... me. I kept my eyes closed and listened, feeling a tad betrayed and rather angry.

"Do you think he actually _liked_ kissing Potter?" Pansy stage-whispered and she suddenly stroked my hair again; some of it fell into my eyelids. "Because he's been rather distant ever since."

"I don't know Pans. I don't think he liked it. It's Potter for Merlin's sake. He probably feels disgusted and awkward. I wouldn't know! Just leave it!"

"Thank you Blaise." I said suddenly as I sat up, unexpectedly catching Pansy off guard; she jumped. I turned and glared at the girl. "You actually thought for one second that I actually _enjoyed_ kissing Potter?"

"N-no... I just-"

"Assumed things like usual?" I growled and stood up. "I need some air." I huffed and stormed out of the compartment. Yes that sounded convincing enough. Pansy would probably start throwing herself at my feet now, begging me to forgive her.

I walked down the side of the train and stopped to take a break at the loo. As I was washing my hands, the door to the men's toilets opened and Potter stood there and he immediately froze as his eyes caught my figure. My hands froze under the running water and I stared at his reflection in the mirror. From that moment on it had been the most awkward experience that I had ever discovered. The worst part of it was, in order for me to escape I had to pass Potter, and in order for him to make it to one of the stalls, he had to pass me.

He also could have turned right back around and exited the washroom and waited for me to leave, but he didn't... He didn't do anything.

I turned off the taps and wiped my hands on the provided towel, then turned to face the messy-haired boy. Damn his stupid messy jet black hair... it was messier than usual today and it looked very... appealing. His lips were pressed into a thin hard line and his eyes were wide behind his glasses. Clearly he had not expected to see me here of all places... but everybody used the loo.

I smirked.

"Still thinking about me then, Potter?" I cocked an eyebrow and a crooked smile appeared on my lips.

"You wish." He mumbled and stepped inside the room, letting the door swing shut behind him, cutting us off from all the students in the hall outside. "I never think about you." That was unconvincing.

"Sure, sure." I said and started to walk towards him. He started to walk my way too and my heart immediately reacted. It started to pump so violently in my chest that I was surprised that it didn't burst free from my skin and land on the floor. We passed each other and my heart started to slow. Before I opened the door to make my exit, I said, "I think I've turned you gay." I exited the loo smirking, pleased with myself.

I wondered what Potter's reaction had been.

--

I got off of the train with Blaise. Pansy had tried to apologize to me like I suspected and I told her to save it and exited the compartment without another word. Lucky for me Pansy did not follow. Blaise did, however, but that did not bother me. I wasn't angered with him. We stepped off of the train with our trunks and any other belongings we had brought along with us and then we stood on the platform, keeping an eye out for anyone who would be there to take us home. Blaise spotted his family before I spotted a very familiar platinum blonde woman. She stood waiting for me alone.

She had a very pretty face, deep ice blue almond shaped eyes, thin pink lips, a small rounded nose and an oval shaped pale face. She looked almost angelic, and she always made me think of a model. Something Pansy had explained to me (apparently her aunt was a muggle model; her uncle was a wizard and married a muggle woman). She was pretty enough to be one. Everyone says that I looked like my father, but I think I take more after my mother. Sure we're all fair skinned, platinum blonde, but I think I've got my mum's face, except for the silvery-grey eyes. Those are definitely my father's no doubt.

I said goodbye to Blaise and walked over to my mother, dragging my trunk along behind me. Of course my father couldn't make it today because the "Dark Lord" was not at all impressed with how his "Death Eaters" had failed to get this... "prophecy", whatever that was. Okay so I eavesdropped on my parents a lot. They talked about things over the winter holidays and I heard it all... Death Eater... The words sent shivers down my spine.

My mother kissed my cheek and patted my shoulder in greeting when I caught up to her. Our chauffeur took my school belongings and we took the barrier to get off of the platform.

"How was school, darling?" She asked me, flicking a strand of long wavy blonde hair over her shoulder. Her hair was curled today and it hung all the way down her back and stopped at her waist-line. I liked her hair curly.

I shrugged my shoulders, thought trailing back to Potter. Narcissa chewed her bottom lip, something she only did when she was nervous or concerned. She saw me notice this and hastily changed the subject before I could ask. "Your cousin is coming to stay will us for a few days in August." This change in topic distracted me alright.

"I have a cousin?" I looked side-ways at my mother. "I didn't know I had a cousin."

"Yeah, and I didn't know your father had a brother." She said as we got into the back of the black car the chauffeur provided for us. He placed my things into the back of the car as mother and I got into the backseat of the car. I buckled up as the tall, black-haired man slid into the front seat and started the engine.

"Anyways, she's your age and attends Lemmings School for Underage Wizards."

She was my age? She existed for sixteen years before I even knew about her?

"Her name is Cassiopeia, but she prefers Cassi." Narcissa went on, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. "She's sixteen, so she's a bit older than you. Born in May. I've never met her before." Yes she was older than me; my birthday was a few weeks ago on June fifth.

"So father didn't tell you that you had a niece until...?"

"Yesterday. He barely speaks of his family, let alone talk to them, but he's doing his brother a favour of some sort." Father doing somebody, other than mother, the Dark Lord and I, a favour? That was out of character. "She can be your company since you know why you cannot invite any other friends over." The reminder sent shivers down my spine and it looked like Narcissa shivered too. "Oh and there will be no mention of it while she's over. Understand?" She said and I nodded. "They don't know we're in..." She brought her voice to a low whisper so that only I could hear her. "_His_ inner circle."

I really hated to talk about the Dark Lord, and I knew mother did too. As I looked at her, I saw her chewing her bottom lip again. This reminded me that I was going to ask her what was happening that was making her so... uncomfortable. I was about to ask, but then the car came to an abrupt halt and Narcissa was getting out of the car. I followed her and looked up at the big familiar mansion that I had spent every holiday and the first eleven years of my life in. I called this "home", and yet it felt less than that. The ride here was shorter than it felt... I was a tad surprised.

We left the chauffeur to get my school things and walked up the stone steps that lead to the entrance. I kept my eyes down as my mother and I stepped inside the large place. The moment I was inside I felt uncomfortable and oddly unsafe. I let my eyes flicker up once the sound of two angry voices filled my ears. The first thing I had noticed about the room a part from the big crystal chandelier that hung from the ceiling and the large staircase, was a woman with black hair and a man with platinum blonde. They looked like they were in a heated argument, but when my father noticed us; they turned away from each other.

The black-haired woman looked a lot like my mother, her round pale face, her eyes and nose... she was, although, skinnier than my mother; you could see the cheekbones in her pale face and her teeth weren't the prettiest thing you could look at. Being in Azkaban for fourteen years didn't exactly do _good_ to you. Oh yeah, this looked more important than coming to fetch me at the platform. I rolled my eyes.

"Hello Draco." My aunt said to me when my mother and I made it over to the two Death Eaters. I gave her a brief smile; I felt more sick here than I did at school... knowing I was going to be one of _them_ in a few weeks. My days of being a regular teenager were coming to an end... But I never really was a regular teenager... I had been under influences like Lucius and his "friends" and when the Dark Lord returned... I shivered for about the twelfth time that day.

Seeing my Aunt made me feel a lot worse. The Dark Lord had helped her and a bunch of his other "pals" out of the wizarding prison and it made me wonder what would happen to me if iI/i was caught? Would they throw me in Azkaban? Surely they would, but really this was all going against my will here. The entire room started shaking before I realized that it wasn't the room that was trembling, it was me. My mother was watching me out of the corner of her eye and this had gone noticed.

"The Dark Lord will be here tomorrow, Draco." Bellatrix said and my head snapped up to look at her, confusion etched across my pale face. Both of my parents shot her angered looks, but she ignored them. "Have your parents not _told_ you yet?"

My mother started to chew her lip again. "T-tell me what?" I asked and I was afraid of the answer. Why was she telling me that the Dark Lord was coming... "Tomorrow?!" I suddenly found myself shouting, startling even myself. I looked at my mother who was frantically chewing her lip now. She bowed her head forwards; a nod.

My heart started racing.

I started to panic.

"Calm down, Draco." Bellatrix tried to sooth me. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and put her face close to my ear. "It's an honour to serve under him. The earlier, the better." Unlike my Aunt, I had no desire to "serve the Dark Lord".  
　

"We have to do it earlier because your cousin is coming." Lucius said.  
　

"But the first day of the holidays?!" Narcissa stroked my hair gently. "Even so, she's not going to be here until August! Really, it`s _tomorrow_?" I ducked out from under my mother's reaching hands.  
　

"We can't exactly explain it now." Lucius said. "And for Merlin's sake! Calm down boy!" He hissed a scowl on his face. I had an outraged expression on mine. Narcissa looked close to tears. "We're doing it tomorrow because... Oh you'll see why! I don't feel like looking at you right now." With a spin of his robes, Lucius marched out of the room.  
　

"When were you planning to tell me?" I asked, turning to look at my mother. "When, huh? When he was already here?"  
　

I made my way up the large staircase, without waiting for a reply, and locked myself in my room with a slam of my bedroom door. I didn't come out for the rest of the night.

　  
I didn't sleep that night. I lay awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling. I was going to become one of _them_ in less than twenty-four hours. Less. Than. Twenty-four. Hours. I started to chew my lip nervously, something I had seen my mother do hundreds of times that evening whenever she'd come up and knock on my door to ask me to come down and eat. I never replied to her. In any case, now the woman had _ me_ doing it. I cursed under my breath and lifted up my right arm. It was even more pale in the moonlight. I ran the tips of my fingers over the smooth skin on my forearm. Less than twenty-four hours.  
　

Those words continued to race through my mind and every time they did my heart would race faster and my throat would dry up. This was killing me. Less than twenty-four hours.  
　

I wanted all of these thoughts to go away, to disappear and leave me alone. I did not like this. Surely no one would have wanted to become one of them, besides my Aunt Bella of course. She clearly enjoyed being in his "inner circle". I sometimes wondered if she was in love with him or something... I'm sure she was.

_Less than twenty-four hours!_  
　

I began to get frustrated. I kicked off my blankets and paced my room, wearing only my black boxers. I wanted to kick something but since our house elf kept everything clean in our house, there was nothing on my floor to kick. I heaved a sigh. It wasn't so bad. So I'd have the dark mark on my arm? Probably forever, or until he murdered me or something. So it was probably going to send me straight to the loony bin. So what?  
　

I pulled open my dark armoire, and pulled open the top drawer that was inside. I grabbed a pair of silk green pyjama pants. The only reason I slept in my boxers was because it was the summer and it was very hot in my room. I slipped each leg into the pants and exited my room, closing the door with a soft click behind me. I started to walk down the hallway in the direction of the loo, but that was when I heard my parents arguing in their room.  
　

"He's only sixteen! He's still a baby! I-I don't want Draco running around with his lot until he's at least twenty-five! But if I had it my way, he wouldn't be joining You-Know-Who in the first place!" Narcissa was sobbing and shouting at the same time. It was a tad hard to understand her. I walked up to the door and stood silently outside it. I didn't need to press my ear against the wood because they were loud enough to hear from where I stood.  
　

"We've gone over this before. I have no power to stop his decision! It's because we failed him at the ministry, and Potter got away again! If he hadn't then there would be no need for Draco to join him. This is my punishment for failing him." Lucius sounded frustrated and angered. He was shouting louder than Narcissa was. "Besides, he's the only one who can get into the castle."  
　  
"But if there was any other way-?"  
　

"But there's **NOT**!" Lucius' booming voice was so loud that it appeared to have silenced my mother.  
　

I crept into the washroom as quietly as I could and lightly closed the door behind me. I stood in front of the mirror and gripped the sides of the sink so tightly that the veins in my hands stood out in my skin. I stared at my reflection.  
　

What had all of that meant? So I was only becoming a stupid member of his club because my father lost to a bunch of fifteen year olds? Talk about pathetic. So this was my father's fault? Stupid git! But they couldn't get into the school, only I could. What had he meant by that? What was in Hogwarts that he needed? Potter, obviously. But what was I going to do? How was I supposed to get Potter to go to him? If we were on good terms this probably could've worked, but we weren't so he clearly did not trust me. How was I supposed to get Potter to fall into the hands of _him_?  
　

Potter... His hair... His eyes... His... lips.  
　

"You do realize what this means?" I said, staring my reflection right in the eye. I chewed my lip as my heart began to race. "You can't... like him anymore."  
　

For some reason... that hurt to say.  
　

The next day I was shaking from head to toe, suffering from an even worse case of paranoia than I had been on the train. Our house elf, Zweeny, had made us breakfast and when she set the plate in front of me at the table, I jumped so fiercely and brutally that I sent the plate flying across the room. Zweeny took this into offence, but I ignored her.

My mother looked strangely at me from across the table, and my father told Zweeny to shut up and clean up the mess and get out of sight. She was still mumbling words under her breath as she cleaned up the food mess and disappeared into the kitchen. Things like that happened for the rest of the day. I broke one of my mother's favourite vases. I was walking down the hallway to use the loo when Aunt Bellatrix called my name. I spun around so quickly that my arm flew out to the side and collided with the vase that was sitting atop the desk in the hallway that we used to place decorative things, like vases... flowers... pictures... etcetera.

I had also put my clothes on inside out so when I came into the dining room that morning my parents and Aunt stared at me like I had officially lost my nut. I could tell that my mother knew why I was acting this strangely. But I didn't understand why she was fretting over it too. She wasn't the one getting marked; she didn't even have the dark mark on her at all. So she didn't know how it felt to be marked. All she could do was take my father's word for it.

I sat in my room all day and only exited it to use the loo or when it was time to eat. I was sitting on my bed, staring at the wall beside the fire place; the fire was lit for some odd reason. Zweeny had obviously done that. An owl suddenly flew through the open window and it dropped a letter just inches from me before turning back around and heading out the way it came.

My eyes flickered to the envelope and the first thing I recognized was the neat curvy scrawl belonging to Pansy. I sighed, already having a feeling that I knew exactly what she had written in this letter. I glanced at my name, which was written neatly on the cover of the envelope, before reaching out to pick it up. I tore it open and pulled the parchment out and began to read.

_Draco,_

_I am sorry if I offended you in any way. And I am truly sorry if I came off as rude or a complete bitch. I hope you can forgive me because you know I didn't mean it and you are right. I do tend to make assumptions. Anyways, I am throwing a house party next week on Thursday and you'd better be there. My parents will be out of town to visit my aunt and uncle to discuss Hogwarts to them in regards for my cousin. Whom you will be meeting in September if you remember our earlier conversation._

_Anyways, I am inviting a bunch of people over and it'll be the best house party ever. It will be no fun without you there so you'd better show up and bno/b excuses. It starts at five and ends at whatever time you want to go. Please come, even if you're still mad at me (which I know you are not). _

_Pansy_

After all that had happened during the last twenty-four hours, I had completely forgotten that I was supposed to be angry with Pansy. Of course I wasn't anymore; I can't hold a grudge. Pansy knew this... she knew me too well...

Obviously I couldn't attend this "party". If no one was allowed to come here... then again no one was allowed here because Death Eaters would be coming in and out of the Manor like crazy, so it didn't necessarily mean I couldn't go there. I place Pansy's letter on my bedside table and jumped off of my bed. I was about to open the door to escape my room when I saw the door handle start to twist on its own. The door flew open and I stepped back just in time to prevent being hit by it.

"Mother!" I said, started when I saw it was her. She looked like she was about to vomit. I was about to open my mouth to ask about Pansy's party when she spoke these two little words that silenced me.

"He's here."

"Dragon, please eat something." Narcissa was through asking, she was begging me now. After we emerged from upstairs, she led me to the dining room where there was food already sitting in front of the chair that I usually sat in. Narcissa had pushed me down into the seat and demanded that I eat before it happened. Instead I simply stared at the steak with disgust and did not touch it.

"Sweetheart, come on. You're going to need your strength." She stroked my hair and I pushed her hand away. We were alone right now. The Dark Lord had called all of his Death Eaters in for a meeting in the room I was supposed to be entering any minute now. I still didn't eat and my mother threw her hands up in frustration. "Draco eat! Please! Eat for me honey. Please sweetheart?" How I hated it when she called me that. I felt like she was still treating me as if I were a child. I was about to become one of _them_ for Merlin's sake! How could she still belittle me?

I heaved a sigh and reached out to grab the bread that sat on the plate next to the steak. I ripped it in half, feeling my mother's eyes on me as I did so, and brought it up to my lips.

"Draco." Bellatrix appeared from nowhere and I dropped the bread, to my mother's disappointment, and looked at my Aunt. "It's time." I was afraid of that.

This was what I had been dreading for weeks. After father had lost the prophecy, I received a letter from my mother telling me just about everything that happened and how I was supposed to join this "exciting club" as punishment for my father. I was not supposed to know this all until yesterday, but my mother is very protective of me and she wants nothing but the best for me. So she was trying to keep her eye out to make sure I was safe and felt safe. Although I felt very unsafe at this very moment and I could tell that she knew.

I exited the room first, followed by Bellatrix, and then Narcissa. "It'll be alright." Bella cooed, crawling a hand up onto my shoulder. "Don't speak unless you're spoken to. Don't look afraid or he'll think you're weak," He already thought that, I just had a feeling. "Address him like he's a king because in this world you're about to enter, he is one." Bellatrix hastily whispered all of this in my ear, causing my entire body to shiver. We had gone over this all last night and I didn't need to be told twice.

"He is making you a Death Eater right away, so the moment you step through those doors the Dark Lord will address you."

Perfect.

We stood outside the large black doors. They looked like they could be found in Draculas castle. My heart was pounding roughly against my ribcage and I was ninety percent sure that I was dreaming. My mother embraced me and placed a soft kiss on my cheek before Bellatrix pushed open the doors and then we both stepped inside.

Narcissa couldn't come in with us.


End file.
